What is infrastructure and what does the government have to do with it?
In 2020, government entities spent $316.5 billion on infrastructure, with state and local governments accounting for 34.8% of that amount.
The federal government has a long history of investing in infrastructure — facilities, structures, and utilities intended for long-term use —at least as far back as 1806 when Congress authorized the construction of the first highway built entirely with federal money.
In the decades since, federal, state, and local governments have spent trillions of dollars on the networks and facilities the country needs to function.
Infrastructure includes transportation systems such as bridges, highways, and railways, as well as energy assets like power plants and electric grids. It can also include drinking water and wastewater systems, broadband access, and public buildings like schools. Funding for building and maintaining it comes from the government, the private sector, or a combination.
How much does the US spend on infrastructure annually?
In 2020, government at all levels, and the private sector spent a combined $865 billion on infrastructure, the highest sum since infrastructure spending tracking began in 1947.
The federal government spent $15.9 billion, or 1.8% of all infrastructure spending. State and local governments spent $300.6 billion, 34.8% of the total. The remaining 63.4% of funding came from the private sector.
Government funding was around one-third of infrastructure spending in 2020.
Infrastructure funding by private sources, the federal government, and state and local governments, 1947–2020
Investment from the private sector and state and local governments have both increased by a factor of around 11 since 1947, while federal government spending has increased by a factor of three.
What kinds of projects does infrastructure spending fund?
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) sorts infrastructure into three subsets:
Basic
Transportation and utilities
Social
Facilities that support community and shared civic life
Digital
Assets that enable the storage and exchange of data
Basic infrastructure refers to transportation and utilities. Social infrastructure is facilities that support community and shared civic life, like schools and hospitals. Digital infrastructure is “assets that enable the storage and exchange of data through a centralized communication system,” like fiber optic cables, cell phone towers, and data centers.
In 2020, basic infrastructure received the most funding of the three: $369.5 billion from a mix of public and private sources, 42.7% of all infrastructure spending. That funding went primarily to power ($168.9 billion) and transportation ($151.1 billion). The remaining $49.5 billion paid for water, sewer, and conservation and development infrastructure.
Basic infrastructure made up 43% of 2020 infrastructure spending.
Infrastructure spending by category and subcategory, 2020
Social infrastructure received around a third (34.1%) of funding in 2020, also a mix of public and private, supporting primarily health ($165.5 billion) and education ($117.1 billion).
The final 23.2% of spending supported digital infrastructure, with $75.1 billion paying for communications equipment and another $71.8 billion going to software, all from private sources.
In 2020, total US infrastructure spending reached $865 billion—the highest level since tracking began in 1947.
How much does the government spend on infrastructure?
In 2020, federal, state, and local governments spent a combined $316.5 billion on infrastructure.
The biggest portion of state and local government money went to transportation, ($134.2 billion) and education ($100.2 billion.)
The largest portion of federal funding went to public safety ($6.8 billion) and conservation and development ($5.4 billion). Public safety infrastructure includes facilities like jails and prisons, police stations, and fire stations; conservation and development includes construction like dams and levees, retaining walls, sea walls, and structures that support erosion control.
In 2020, government entities spent $316.5 billion on infrastructure, while the private sector spent $548.2 billion.
Infrastructure funding by category from private, federal government, and state and local government sources
Private investment’s top two funding categories were power ($157.7 billion) and health ($155.6 billion).
Power infrastructure covers both electric and gas — electrical substations, transformers, and transmission lines, and gas distribution and storage facilities.
Health infrastructure includes both facilities (like hospitals) and medical equipment.
How do federal and state governments split up infrastructure spending?
Federal, state, and local governments typically share the cost of public infrastructure investment, but the bulk of direct spending comes from the state and local level.
The federal government funds infrastructure in a few specific ways:
Direct spending on infrastructure it owns, such as the air traffic control system and dams.
Grants and loans to state and local governments or nongovernmental entities.
Provisions that allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds.
Infrastructure priorities can vary between presidential administrations. The second Trump administration emphasized expanding data center infrastructure to support emerging technologies like AI and proposed changes to environmental regulations that affect how new infrastructure projects are approved.
In July 2025, the Transportation Department announced federal funding for 30 infrastructure projects nationwide. In August 2025, the White House published a list of private companies and their announced investments in US infrastructure projects.
Where does this data come from?
This data comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a subagency within the Department of Commerce, responsible for collecting and analyzing data about economic performance, trade, and industry in the US.
This report explains how infrastructure is defined and tracked in the National Economic Accounts, breaking it into basic, social, and digital categories and showing data on investment levels, asset values, and aging over time. The National Economic Accounts are the federal government’s system for measuring the size, growth, and structure of the economy.
This report has been published twice: the first time in December 2020 (with data from 1947 through 2017), and again in September 2021 (with data from 1947 through 2020). BEA has not publicly released an expected update to this report.
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